The Negative Close is a Powerful Way to Get Attention

THE NEGATIVE CLOSE IS A POWERFUL WAY TO GET ATTENTION

The Negative Close is an interesting closing style because the salesperson has two separate considerations to bring to the prospects attention. It’s a closing style where the salesperson needs to get the message across to the prospect that is they do nothing, their problem will not go away and will probably get worse, and the second message is that if they don’t buy now, it’s like the price of property today, the same price won’t be there in the future.

On the other hand, the stalling tactics the prospect may use could be something as simple as what follows:

But no matter what they may say to you, the reality is that they can’t afford not to get the product today, because of a number of reasons. Tomorrows’ price is always a tricky one because someone may discount, or a sale may come up unexpectedly, and so on. I have however, over the years, developed a sure-fire way of getting the message home, and have already hinted at this – I have learned to use the growing property market at almost every future price example I need to use, and it has never let me down.

“John, I understand exactly where you’re coming from and I probably would say the same today if I was in your shoes, however, allow me to tell you something that was told to me a while ago that changed my thinking about whether I can afford it today or not – especially if I need it as much as you obviously do. I just say to myself, property prices are always going up as time marches on – and so does the cost of everything else.”

It is now important to get an agreement on that point, and I’d say, “You’d agree with that, wouldn’t you?”

Mostly they would now say, ‘yes,’ or something similar that suggests a yes and I would go on. But if they answer with anything else, like say, “I really don’t know about that, prices are a little flat at the moment.”

I would consider that a real stalling tactic and then come up with a response that I have never had anyone dispute, and here’s how I would use it in a situation like this. “John, I’m with you on that one too, but we need to get on the same page, so you would agree that historically property prices go up?”

To which John would simply reply, “Yes.”

And I would reinforce what I started out to do in the first place. “John, the way I see it is that if you don’t act now the situation will not get better, and we both know it will progressively get worse. And on the price, that too won’t stay the same forever, and it too will get progressively higher.”

At this stage I would add the sweetener that is a vital part of the Negative Close process and give John a discount to act NOW. “So John, in order to do what is both right and best for you right now, and because you say money is tight, I will drop the price by $50 right now so we can get the paperwork underway today. Is that OK with you?”

The $50 drop would represent around 10% of the selling price, and if a little more was needed I would drop even further. But the important thing here is, that like any other price reduction there needs to be a ceiling, and I would probably work to a 20% discount which would give me a further $50 to play with should I need to do so.

Here are a few more subtle ways to deal with the cost of not acting now:• “It’s like the price of gold, if you don’t act now, the price will keep going up.”
• “They say that diamonds are a girls’ best friend, but the way the price of diamonds keeps rising the only one that’s really happy is the jeweller. Why I’m telling you that is simple logic, prices don’t go down over time, they go up. So if you don’t act now, guess what? The price goes up.”

Another method is the more direct way to activate the Negative Close:
• “Martin and Sue, we both know that the best time to act is now. Things usually don’t get better over time, they get (take in a deep breath and while breathing out, stretch the word out by saying it slowly) w o r s e. So not acting now is not appropriate, is it?”

One more way to work the Negative Close is to manipulate the dates

• “I’m sorry Steve, but due to the holidays we won’t be able to deliver in the three weeks after the 12th, but we can only do it next week, is that okay?”
Here’s another way of using the Negative Close:

• “Now I’ll have a look into the computer and see if I can do any better. Hmm, I can, but I will need to get it into to store s this is generally not a stock line. If you’re prepared to give me a deposit today you can have it at a further $100 off.”

This close is really popular and is used to great affect throughout a number of value based professions, particularly in low to medium-value sales. It is also useful with prospects who have a poor command of English.

This Article is by Peter Collins – In a sales career spanning more than 53 years, Peter Collins has focused on helping and bringing out the best in others – whether it involves training or mentoring salespeople, managers, business consulting to SME’s. Since the 1970’s Peter has built a reputation as a Nationally and Internationally Published author, and has 68 business books to his credit, but he is mainly known for one book based on the Audio Tape series of the same name, Over 50 Ways of Closing the Sale. Peter had his first book published in 1969 and now has over 133 books in all, including Business, Marketing, Sales, Free Publicity, Body Language, Music and over 30 Christian books to date. Peters books have sold over 2.5 Million copies over 48 years. In his personal life, Peter has been sought after as an encourager and motivator that has given of his time and talents freely despite his busy schedule. Subsequently, he has assisted churches, pastors, community and charity groups, as well as individuals through his teaching, training, development and on-going mentoring.